A $40 Undershirt — And Why It's Worth It

We've already extolled the virtues of the $90 T-shirt (and then watched many of you turn your backs on us on Twitter; no hard feelings), so clearly, we stand behind shelling out a little extra for the finer things in life. And, not surprisingly, we've found another one of those finer things on which to fixate. Our most recent indlugence comes by way of underwear brand Tommy John in the form of a "second skin" crewneck undershirt that comes with a $40 price tag attached. A little tough to swallow, perhaps, but the folks at TJ have given substantial evidence to justify this splurge. That evidence being: The shirt does exactly what it's supposed to.

Let us reiterate: This is an undershirt, not a T-shirt, so functionality trumps looking cool with jeans. And functionality is where the Tommy John team truly delivers. They've honed in on the cut, which is extremely slim but not quite a compression fit, so it hugs your body without strangling you. Also, the shirt is made of a super-lightweight blend of cotton and spandex (read: won't pill), so it moves with you throughout the day, stays tucked in, doesn't ride up, and, most importantly, doesn't fight your dress shirt and create those weird beneath-the-surface folds you can see in almost any office building in America. The Spandex blend also means the shirt won't shrink or stretch out, a positive point that's only bolstered by one of our favorite features: the lack of that annoying label rubbing at the back of your neck.

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